Military Road School Photo courtesy of
Beth L. Savage, National Register of Historic Places

Public School Buildings of Washington
DC, 1862-1960 Multiple Property Submission

Two historical themes run throughout the history of the District
of Columbia's public schools. The most important is the separation
of the races into separate schools, a practice that endured
in the District until the Supreme Court of the United States
outlawed separate educational facilities in 1954. The second
historical theme is the separation of the sexes, which endured
in a limited form well into the 20th century. Many District
residents recall their attendance at a racially segregated school.
Former African American schools are regarded today both as a
source of pride and as a reminder of past injustices. Below
are three Washington, D.C., public school buildings constructed
for African Americans all recently listed in the National Register
of Historic Places on July 25, 2003.

Located at Kendall and Gallaudet streets, N.E., the Alexander
Crummell School was one of the earliest buildings designed by
Snowden Ashford when he was appointed the first Municipal Architect
of the District of Columbia in 1909. Constructed in 1910-11,
the school is dedicated to and memorializes the life and work
of clergyman, teacher, missionary, and orator Alexander Crummell
(1819-1898), who devoted his life to the abolition of slavery
and the moral and intellectual betterment and solidarity of
African Americans. Founder and pastor of St. Luke's Episcopal
Church, the city's first independent black Episcopal church,
he preached his philosophy of the church as an institution fostering
social change, education and self-help. Crummell taught at Howard
University and, in 1897, he established a tradition of black
scholarship that inspired a new generation of black intellectuals
as founder and first president of the American Negro Academy.
Ashford's Crummell School design epitomizes his initial approach
to public school architecture, designing distinctive buildings
while working on a tight budget within the eight-room neighborhood
school plan developed by the Office of the Building Inspector.
The red brick, two-story Renaissance style school is appointed
with stone, stucco and tile detail and large banks of windows.
Throughout its history, the Crummell School was a focal point
of the Ivy City community and was vigorously supported by the
Ivy City Citizens Association, one of the first such organizations
in the city. Despite such strong community support, extreme
overcrowding and changing conditions led to the closing of the
school and its transfer to the DC Department of General Services
in 1977.

The William Syphax School is dedicated to and memorializes
the life and work of William Syphax, a prominent African American
who worked tirelessly to create a public school system in the
District of Colombia with equal educational opportunities for
African Americans until his death in 1894. The William Syphax
School, located at 1360 Half Street, S.W., was constructed in
1909-10. A private developer who plans to restore the original
school as a community center has purchased Syphax School. Designed
in 1900 by noted Washington architects Marsh & Peter in a Colonial
Revival style, the red brick building is two stories tall with
full English basement and attic.

Constructed in 1912 on the site of one of the city's first
public schools built for freedmen, the Military Road School
retains its historical connection with the struggle by African
Americans to secure the benefits of public education. The outline
of the original schoolhouse, built in the Civil War when black
refugees sought protection under the watch of the Union military,
is shown on the construction plans for the present building.
For years the Military Road School served as the only school
available to African Americans a large area of Upper Northwest
Washington, D.C. With public school desegregation, it was closed
in 1954, and has been used for various public and education
activities since that time. A two story high red brick building
with three bays and full English basement, the Military Road
School, is located at 1375 Missouri Avenue.